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Born on 16.07.1944 in an agriculture family in a small village 6 km from
Trichy.
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He
is the last boy to his father Sri. Maruthanayagam, has three elder
brother and two younger sisters.
Ø The
inborn leadership quality was roused by his relative Sri. Ganesan, an
attractive speaker and R.Srinivasan the English teacher, who were
instrumental in moulding him to speak in various forums both in English
and Tamil.
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His
Tamil teacher Sri. Kulasekaran taught him to write lyrics and poems and
guided him to write articles in school magazines.
Ø His
articles have also been published in famous Tamil magazines like
“Swathesa Mithran” and “Kumudam”.
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He
was deputy school pupil leader and the school pupil leader was Sri.
Raman who later on became famous cine actor in the name of Ravichandran.
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He
wanted to study law, but the almighty blessed him to join in the Central
Polytechnic, Madras.
Ø Again
the destiny prevented him to get a Diploma in Engineering by
discontinuing his studies after two and half years as he got an
appointment in Indian Railways as Apprentice Mechanic.
Ø He
joined ICF as an Apprentice Mechanic (five years Apprenticeship) on
25.03.1964.
Ø He
served as Mess Secretary and Cultural Secretary in the Apprentice
Mechanics’ hostel.
Ø After
completion of 5 years apprenticeship he was absorbed as Chargeman ‘C’ on
26.03.1969 and posted to Shop-16, (Machine Shop) in ICF.
Ø He
worked in various shops and everywhere he was very successful and got
innumerable awards for his outstanding works.
Ø At
his work he used to take up all challenging tasks of any nature, like
fabrication of emergency hold up items, shortage items, new development
works, trade failure items etc,.
Ø He
keenly showed interest in staff welfare activities like drinking water,
sanitation, rest place etc,.
Ø In
1992 he became SSE.
Ø He
served in IRTSA both in ICF and at all India level at various
capacities.
Ø He
served as staff council member (Supervisory) for two terms with
distinction.
Ø By
his Honest, Fearless, Dedicated, Hard Working and extremely focused
approach, he won many hearts and became Central President IRTSA in the
year 1992.
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He
strongly believes that mere trade union activities without any
contribution towards the society will not fetch the required results.
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He
moulded the younger generation to devote their energy to do their
official duty first and spare time to contribute their mite towards
social causes also.
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During the natural calamities like Orissa super cyclone, Ahdhra Pradesh
flood, Tsunami etc IRTSA under the leadership of M.Shanmugam contributed
to the PM’s relief fund besides distributing aids at the affected areas
directly.
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He
also founded “Indian Railways Integrated Technical Forum” for updating
technical knowledge of Technical Supervisors and also for conducting
many technical & medical seminars, value engineering case studies for
improved Railway performance.
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His
zeal to propagate the advantages of Rail transport and the essential
need to expand the rail length in the country got many appreciations and
his endeavor never ends.
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The
former President of India Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam gave audience to the
team of IRTSA office bearers lead by Er. Shanmugam to hear his views
about the expansion of rail route length in the country.
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Some of the Major demands achieved during his dynamic president ship
are:-
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Bonus to all Technical Supervisors irrespective of pay
v
Revision of SSE pay scale to Rs.7450-11500 instead of Rs.7000-11500
recommended by Vth CPC
v
Incentive bonus to senior Supervisors working in Production units and
workshops.
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Grant of scale of Rs.7450-11500 to Drawing and Design staff
v
Re-designation of Drawing and Design staff as Engineers (as JE, SE &
SSE).